How it affects you, your baby and family

Regardless of the extent of a maternal mental health problem during the perinatal period, it is almost certain that it will have an affect on the womans life and specifically her child and immediate environment. The mother that will carry the burden of such a mental health disorder in conjunction with the experience of childbirth, will face great difficulties in her relationships and her ability to respond to the increasing needs of her baby’s care. The threat of her social outcast and isolation is of critical importance as it may increase further her difficult situation. The weakening of the mothers position may weaken the entire family network that depends on her, igniting further her worries and anxieties in a new vicious circle.

A recent study by the LSE (2014) (1) demonstrated that the economic cost of maternal mental health consequences have in the UK have surpassed 8 billion pounds (almost 11 bill. Euros). But what is far more critical in this study is the fact that 72% of the said cost concerns maternal mental health outcomes on the new newborn. Because maternal mental health does not concern the mother alone, but also the newborn and the rest of the family.